Best Duty Doer
Brett Shirk
The bags under Brett Shirk's eyes say enough. Shirk, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, looks like he hasn't slept in days. Upon taking the reigns of the local chapter last November, after longtime Executive Director Dick Kurtenbach retired, Shirk was immediately thrust into a whirlwind of controversial cases. He has fought for the rights of gays and lesbians to become foster parents. When no one else stepped up to fight Missouri's voter ID bill -- which, opponents argue, would make it harder for elderly and poor people to vote, Shirk partnered with the ACLU of Eastern Missouri to file a lawsuit challenging its
constitutionality. His job also includes the unenviable task of defending the First Amendment rights of Fred Phelps' gay-bashing, funeral-protesting family -- work that nets a mailbox full of hate letters. For Shirk, it's all part of the job. He's just protecting the rights of every American under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
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